Breaking news today was that Advocate Gerrie Nel, Head of AfriForum’s Private Prosecuting Unit, announced that the civil rights group will privately prosecute EFF leader Julius Malema for fraud and tender corruption.

Should the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), not yield to AfriForum’s demand that the case against Malema regarding the alleged corrupt activities of the company On Point Engineering in Limpopo be reinstated, they will go ahead with their plan.

On Point Engineering, in 2009, was allegedly illegally awarded a R50 million tender by the Limpopo government. This was to oversee the work done by service providers in the province.

The alleged transfer of some of the monies received from the Limpopo government, went into Malema’s family trust “Ratanang”.

A statement from Afri-Forum, stated this is the reason why they want to pursue the case:

"On Point, in which Malema’s family trust has a vested interest, was appointed in 2009 to assist the Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport with infrastructure development, maintenance and planning and in doing so received bribes from successful tenderers”.

Charges were laid by AfriForum against Malema on 24 July 2011 at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria. The charges were in terms of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, 2004 (Act No. 12 of 2004), in connection with On Point’s corrupt activities. The NPA started the prosecution of Malema after the Hawks investigated the charge and found proof of corruption.

The case against Malema was struck from the roll on 4 August 2015. Due to illness, one of Malema’s co-accused could not attend the hearing held at the Polokwane High Court resulting in the decision. Two years and eight months have since passed. Due to negligence, the NPA did not place the case on the roll again.

On 19 March 2018, AfriForum sent a letter to the NPA, because of their failure to act further, demanding the reinstatement of the prosecution. The NPA reacted in writing to AfriForum, assuring them that the reinstatement of the charges against Malema is currently being considered. A final decision will take place by August 2018. Should the NPA decide not to reinstate the charges against Malema and his co-accused, AfriForum will privately prosecute Malema, this is according to Advocate Nel.

Indicated by Advocate Nel, it is unacceptable that the NPA have failed to move forward with the corruption case against Malema after more than 30 months of it lying dormant. “AfriForum’s Private Prosecuting Unit was established for the very reason of ensuring that equality before the law is upheld and that the NPA does its work effectively. The NPA neglected its duty by simply abandoning the case against Malema,” adds Nel.

Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, says that even though Malema seems to think he is untouchable, he is definitely not above the law. AfriForum will therefore according to Kriel see to it that Malema is called to account. “Someone like Malema, who claims to represent the poor people and then plunders the state coffers to enrich himself at the cost of service delivery to poor people, must be exposed for who and what he really is,” says Kriel.

Apart from this corruption case, Kriel points out that AfriForum is currently busy with two other cases in which Malema is implicated. A case of contempt of court by Malema is currently been prepared for by AfriForum in conjunction with AfriBusiness. The case is based on a court order that was obtained against Malema in 2017. The order forbade him to incite people to occupy land. Malema is contravening this court order with his latest statements, and therefore is acting in contempt of the court order.

The second case against Malema is a charge of incitement to commit crime that was submitted by AfriForum, and is to be heard in the Bloemfontein Regional Court. The court postponed the matter to 27 July 2018.

Malema said on Thursday that he was not afraid of AfriForum’s plans to privately prosecute him.

In a tweet, Malema labelled AfriForum as “bloody racists” who do not scare him.

“Bring it on bloody racists, you do not scare me at all I am born ready. No white man will man will decide my destiny, the poor masses of our people will,” said Malema.

Nel said he was not moved by Malema’s comments about the plans.

“I will not get into a personal discussion with anybody I have prosecuted. You will not find any comment from people I have prosecuted in the past. I am a prosecutor and that’s my job. I will not respond to any private comments,” he said.